Leaders are constantly striving to find better ways of motivating their teams. Often times using different approaches but many times getting stuck in a leadership rut which leaves them wondering what can be done to produce a high performing team. One of the best ways to lead is often times overlooked. If you want to really lead, learn to serve.
What exactly is servant leadership?
The term was first coined by Robert Greenleaf , who is recognized as the father of servant leadership. He defined it as a leadership philosophy which views the leader as a steward of the resources provided by the organization. It encourages leaders to serve others while staying focused on achieving results in line with the organization''s values and integrity. He went on to describe some of the characteristics of a servant leader as:
"It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead…The difference manifest itself in the care taken by the leader - first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: do those served grow as persons, do they grow while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?"
Unlike leadership approaches with a top-down hierarchical style, Servant Leadership instead emphasizes collaboration, trust, empathy, and the ethical use of power. At heart, the individual is a servant first, making the conscious decision to lead in order to better serve others, not to increase their own power. The objective is to enhance the growth of individuals in the organization and increase teamwork and personal involvement.
In the next issue, we will discuss 7 key characteristics of servant leaders and we''ll discuss how you can determine if you have what it takes to ''improve your serve''.
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